How To Get Unbanned From TikTok in 3 Steps

Jan 18, 2024
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How Bans Work and How To Get Unbanned From TikTok

Getting banned on TikTok is never good news, especially if you’re trying to build up a following as a business. All your marketing efforts could go down the drain because of a single dodgy upload.Worse yet, your videos may not break any rules, but someone can report you, or the platform’s algorithm might flag you by mistake, and you can get banned on TikTok for no reason. What should you do when this happens? When you receive the notification about getting banned, it’s not the end yet—there are ways you can appeal the decision and continue your progress towards getting popular on TikTok. In this article, we’ll show you how to get unbanned from TikTok and explain what might have caused the ban in the first place.

How To Get Unbanned From TikTok

When you receive a temporary ban, you will get a notification via your TikTok app. If you feel you haven’t done anything wrong, you can appeal and get unbanned.To appeal against the ban, you need to:

  1. Open the notification
  2. Tap Appeal
  3. Follow on-screen instructions

If you’ve missed the notification, there’s another way you can appeal within the app:

  1. Go to your Profile
  2. Tap on the settings (the three lines in the upper right corner)
  3. Tap Report a Problem
  4. Choose Account and profile
  5. Tap the compose icon in the top-right corner
  6. Tap the same icon again and write your appeal

You can also write an email to info@tiktok.com or legal@tiktok.com.

Source: TikTok

In most cases, before you receive a ban, TikTok will only flag your video. If this happens, you can remove the video (the violation will stay on your record), or you can appeal against it by following these steps:

  1. Go to the video in question
  2. Tap Community Guidelines violation: See details
  3. Choose Submit an appeal
  4. Follow the instructions

TikTok usually takes 1–5 business days to reply to an appeal.

Why Was My TikTok Account Banned?

In its last published transparency report, TikTok announced that the company banned over 14 million accounts in the second quarter of 2021 alone. During the same period, they removed more than 81.5 million videos, with about 4.6 million of them getting reinstated after a successful appeal.What causes an account to be blocked? For that to happen, you need to break the platform’s community guidelines in one or more of your videos. Depending on the severity of the guideline violation and the number of offenses, the repercussions go from a video being removed to getting a permanent ban with no option to appeal.

Source: Ron LachWhen you make a TikTok, you should read through the guidelines and Privacy Policy to make sure you know what your content can and cannot include and how to avoid violations. The rules are strict against posting videos that contain:

  • Harassment and bullying
  • Threats to minor safety
  • Depiction of suicide, self-harm, and dangerous acts
  • Violent extremism
  • Illegal activities and regulated goods
  • Hateful behavior
  • Violent and graphic content
  • Adult nudity and sexual activities
  • Impersonation and fake engagement
  • Misinformation
  • Intellectual property violations
  • Platform security infringement

As you can see, the majority of these guidelines refer more to regular users as businesses wouldn’t post such content anyway. Still, you should know what the grounds for video removal may be.

How Your Content Gets Flagged

There are three ways your video or entire account can get flagged and removed:

  1. Algorithm detection
  2. Spam behavior
  3. User reports

Out of the 61.9 million videos removed in Q1 2021, 93.1% of them were removed in the first 24 hours as the algorithm recognized clear guideline violations. If this happens to your video and you’re adamant there was no violation on your part, you can request a manual review of the video.Another way to get into TikTok’s bad books is through spam behavior. If you post dozens of videos and start following 50 new accounts each day in hopes of getting a follow back, TikTok will flag you as a spammer and won’t show your content to other users.Videos that slip through the algorithm but still violate the guidelines can be reported by regular users, and those videos will be under review. Note that users can report various elements:

  • Videos
  • Comments
  • Direct messages
  • Live videos
  • Live comments
  • Sounds
  • Hashtags
  • Accounts

If, for instance, someone reports a problematic hashtag, and you’ve used that hashtag in a caption, your video will automatically go under review.https://giphy.com/gifs/debbyryan-debby-ryan-3oKIPchYaXx2YQybcYSource: Debby Ryan

Types of Bans

Regardless of whether you’re a new user or an influencer enrolled in the Creator Fund or have a business account, you can get banned for breaking the rules. There are four types of bans for TikTok users:Type of BanPenaltiesDo You Get Notified?Can You Appeal?ShadowbanReceive limited to no views and exposure on your videosNoNoLivestream banCan’t livestream or comment on livestream videosYesYesTemporary banUnable to post or interact with other people’s content for a periodYesYesPermanent banDeleted accountYesNoBeing shadowbanned is especially tricky because you can’t tell whether you’re banned or not. TikTok never officially mentions it—they don’t notify you, and you can’t appeal. The only way to tell if you’re shadowbanned is to check your analytics and see if you're gaining new followers or getting views.Shadowbanning occurs when you’re guilty of spam behavior or a minor violation. When you get shadowbanned, your videos won’t show up on the For You page or when someone searches for a hashtag.Since there is no way to appeal, the only course of action is to sit out the ban and start posting once you notice your numbers are getting up—a shadowban can last anywhere from 24 hours to two weeks.As for permanent bans, they occur after numerous violations or a single zero-tolerance infraction. That’s why it’s important to appeal any temporary bans you feel are unjust immediately.

Banned Ads

TikTok has a list of policies and guidelines for ads, as well. During the first two quarters of 2021, the platform banned over 3.7 million ads. As a business, if you’re trying to promote your company through paid ad campaigns, make sure your ad videos comply with all the guidelines set out for company accounts.If you’re unsure whether your ads will pass the test (or maybe you’ve already struggled with bans), but you still want to build up a following on TikTok, you should consider turning to influencer marketing.One of the reasons creators like Addison Rae Easterling and Charli D’Amelio are so popular is because they know exactly how TikTok’s algorithm works and how to create viral content and don’t have issues with posting problematic videos.Influencer marketing is a win-win situation for both parties. Creators get to make money on TikTok, and you won’t have to worry about guideline issues while simultaneously increasing your reach.

Getting Banned on TikTok Can Be a Disaster for a Business

Anyone with a personal account can play around with videos as getting banned will only cost them the time to create a new account. As a business, the repercussions are much greater.If you get permanently banned, you will lose all your followers. If you get verified and banned, your brand reputation will take a massive hit—one you can’t recover from.That’s why it’s important to have a social media team behind your every move on TikTok. You need someone who will always understand how the algorithm works and what the boundaries are when it comes to creating content for the platform.An in-house social media manager usually has too many tasks on their plate—they need to be in control of various social media accounts, communicate with followers, run paid campaigns, and create content.What may seem like an initially cheaper alternative to hiring a professional agency may result in devastating outcomes that could easily have been avoided.

Let the Professionals Handle Your TikTok Account

As a social media agency with an official TikTok partnership, Kubbco will make sure you never stumble into any issues with questionable content or bans. Kubbco knows what it takes to succeed on TikTok—we have a team of professional content writers, graphic designers, video producers, and social media strategists to bring that success to you.All you need to do is tell us what you want to achieve on TikTok, and we’ll do the rest. We can:

  • Build and execute your entire TikTok strategy
  • Decide on the type of content that best suits your niche and brand
  • Create high-quality videos that span from 15 seconds to 3 minutes
  • Take care of advertising and influencer marketing
  • Use analytics to make sure you get the best results

Want to know how we do it? You can learn all the tricks about succeeding on TikTok and other social media platforms by subscribing to our newsletter.

Let’s Succeed Together

Our marketing campaigns have never had any policy issues, and together with our partners, we’ve managed to achieve incredible results on TikTok. Our efforts brought our clients thousands of new followers and millions of views through engaging content and optimized ad campaigns.Check out what we did with OLAPLEX, NATURLI’ Food, Matas, and essence cosmetics:PartnerPartnership DurationNumber of VideosViral VideosFollowers GainedTotal ViewsOLAPLEX5 weeks28222,0005.1 millionNATURLI’ Foods23 weeks112205,2006.2 millionMatas8 weeks25813,5005.6 millionessence cosmetics2 years 2 months55612386,00073 million

We can do the same and more with you! All you need to do is contact us, and we’ll start working on bringing you your TikTok glory as fast as possible!

Featured image: visuals

Malene Hold
Head of TikTok

TikTok and social media expert helping clients leverage the power of viral concepts to grow their businesses.